An hostage decapitated in the south of the Philippines

Wednesday August 21, 2002 - 23h40 GMT

ZAMBOANGA (the Philippines), August 22 (AFP) - One of the six Christian hostages Filipinos removed by supposed islamists of the group Abu Sayaf in the south of the Philippines Wednesday was decapitated by its kidnappers, one learned military Thursday of source.

The head of the hostage was found Wednesday evening near the headquarters of the army, in the capital of the island of Jolo, one specified of the same source.

A second hostage decapitated in the south of the Philippines

Thursday August 22, 2002 - 0h20 GMT

ZAMBOANGA (the Philippines), August 22 (AFP) - a second hostage among the six Christians Filipinos removed by supposed islamists of the group Abu Sayaf in the south of the Philippines Wednesday was decapitated by his kidnappers, one learned military Thursday of source.

The second head was found, packed in a plastic bag, close to the market of the capital of the island of Jolo, while the first head had been discovered near the headquarters of the army, according to the General Romeo Tolentino.

"Those which do not believe in Allah will undergo the same fate", said a note found close to one of the two heads, specified the Tolentino General.

Six Witnesses of Jéhovah, agents sales in beauty products, had been kidnapped Tuesday in the town of Patikul on the island of Jolo, one of the strongholds of Abu Sayyaf.

The removal was carried out by the men of the gang directed by a local head, Moin Sahiron, nephew of Radulan Sahiron, a veteran of the separatist wars in the Moslem south of the archipelago.

The group Abu Sayyaf, whose last taking of hostages goes back to last October, is specialized in the taking of hostages in order to obtain ransoms.

Jolo is one of the strongholds of Abu Sayyaf which had taken to last year three Americans as hostages. One was released in June and two died. The island was not the target of the American intervention which was completed at the end of July and concentrated on Basilan.

Three Indonésiens kidnapped in June are also held by other Moslem separatists reconverted into the banditism on Jolo.

People can downplay the religious aspect all they want but a religious war is coming to us whether we like it or not. We are not fighting a nation, we are fighting a religion that hates our guts. I agree that Franklin Graham is correct. This war on terrorism is going to last a long time.

As part of National Military Appreciation Month, the Department of Defense is gathering signatures on a brief message thanking the men and women of the U.S. military for defending our freedom. The compiled list of names will be sent out to our soldiers at the end of the month. So far, there are only about 546,000 names. It is really easy. The web page brings up a space to type your name, city and state.

Amazing... I take a few months off from the FR, and it appears these Islamic maniacs are still at it.

I know. Hate and ignorance are such a deadly combination - no matter who has it. Those that chant "Death to Islam" conveniently forget that one of our best allies is Turkey -- Turkey who can follow Islam and buy military equipment from Isreal. But do they remember this? Nooooooooooooooooo.

JOLO, Philippines, Aug 21, 2002 (AP WorldStream via COMTEX) -- Muslim extremists beheaded at least two of the six Jehovah's Witnesses they kidnapped in the southern Philippines and dumped their heads in a public market, authorities said Thursday.

Brig. Gen. Romeo Tolentino, commander of the army on the southern island of Jolo, said authorities found the heads of the two male hostages in an open air market in Jolo town along with notes calling for a holy war.

The two men were abducted Tuesday with four women as the group sold Avon cosmetics and visited homes around the town of Patikul in the south of the predominantly Muslim island of Jolo.

All hostages were Filipinos, mostly poor people from the nearby city of Zamboanga, on the main Philippine southern island of Mindanao.

Officials identified the two dead men as 21-year-old Lemuel Bantolo and Leonel Mantic, of an unknown age, both from Zamboanga.

The relationship between the captive Bantolos and the dead man wasn't immediately known.

Tolentino said one head was left in a cloth bag in a Jolo town market with an attached note referring to "infidels" and speaking of a holy war, or "jihad." Another head was left in a plastic bag in the market with a similar note, he said.

Police and military officials say the kidnapping was carried out by Muin Maulod Sahiron, a nephew of Radullan Sahiron who heads the Muslim extremist Abu Sayyaf group in the area.

The kidnappings Tuesday were the first on the troubled island of Jolo since the United States began supporting a Philippines military campaign to wipe out the al-Qaida-linked group seven months ago in the middle of a yearlong mass kidnapping that included three American captives.

Philippine troops responded by shelling Abu Sayyaf positions and searching for the gang.

Sulu provincial police chief Col. Ahiron Ajirim reported two men with pistols stopped a jeep carrying the Jehovah's witnesses and forced them out Tuesday afternoon. He said the driver was left behind in the rural area of Jolo island, about 900 kilometers (600 miles) south of Manila.

Avon supplies were found abandoned in the jeep but officials said the victims may also have been trying to spread their religion.

The Abu Sayyaf has often kidnapped for ransom but more frequently has abducted poor Filipinos, mostly Christians, to serve for weeks or months as slave labor.

Most hostages have been released, but more than a dozen have been killed in the past year, many beheaded. The group also has kidnapped women to force them to marry guerrillas.

For six months from February, about 1,200 U.S. troops trained and provided logistical and intelligence support for the Philippine army's push to eradicate the Abu Sayyaf.

The U.S. program ended officially three weeks ago, although a few Americans remained on Basilan island, which neighbors Jolo, to finish infrastructure projects.

The last Abu Sayyaf kidnapping spree ended in June when U.S.-trained soldiers, helped by U.S. surveillance and communications, tracked down rebels holding the last of 102 captives: American missionaries Gracia and Martin Burnham and Filipino nurse Ediborah Yap.

On June 7, soldiers rescued Mrs. Burnham, but her husband and Yap were killed. The Abu Sayyaf leader who led those kidnappings was believed killed with two of his men in a clash at sea two weeks later.

A Filipino man, Roland Ullah, is still being held from another Abu Sayyaf mass kidnapping two years ago from a tourist resort in Malaysia.

"That religion, which above all others was founded and propagated by the sword--the tenets and principles of which are...incentives to slaughter and which in three continents had produced fighting breeds of men--stimulates a wild and merciless fanaticism."

So that's the way to deal with these pests who come uninvited to your door and ring the bell right under the "No Peddlers" sign? Works for me, and since I live not far from their "Hall" or whatever that shack's called, I seem to be on the receiving end of their dedicated, but not too strenuous proselitizing! (I bet they won't walk more than a shopping center parking distance from that chapel!)

Churchill is over rated. (I refer to his "run-in" with Prime Minister John Curtain of Australia.) Churchill demanded that Australian troops remain in Europe despite the advancement of the Japanese in WWII. The Japanese had already issued victory currency for their eventual take over of Australia. Japanese subs were in Sydney Harbor, Darwin was being bombed and the Aussie navy was off (on Chruchill's orders) protecting Britain. Australia was totally and completely open and defenseless. Curtain gave the order for the complete withdrawal of the Australian forces - Churchill overruled him. Curtain then told Churchill: "my men are armed and they can fire both ways." Curtain gave the order: "Come home. If any British officer tries to stop you, shoot to kill." Only then did Churchill back down. But the Aussies came back too late. The Americans engaged the Japanese at Coral Sea. It was the victory at Coral Sea that saved Australia. Had the Americans lost that naval battle, Australia would be totally and completely overrun by the Japanese forces.

That is so typical of how they see US as well. They think that if us infidels weren't in the world, they would never be tempted and never do any wrong. Typical liberal "I'm not responsible for my behavior" thinking.

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